Erin Popovich of the United States is going for her fourth gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in the Women's 400m Freestyle S7 on Thursday, September 11. This will be her fourth event in the competition and Popovich is determined to show that she has got what it takes to be one of the names to remember at the National Aquatics Center.
In Men's 400m Freestyle S7, defending champion David Roberts of Great Britain has the best qualification time of 4:49.12. His compatriot Andrew Lindsay comes second in 5:01.66. Lantz Lamback of Team USA has the third time of 5:03.42.
In Women's 400m Freestyle S7, Popovich qualified fastest in 5:23.65. Popovich will have a chance to win her fourth gold medal at the Games. Kirsten Bruhn of Germany comes second in qualification in 5:27.15 and Oxana Guseva of Russia is third with the time of 5:30.91.
Swimmers In Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3 will face the challenge of breaking both the 12-year Paralympic record of 50.07 set by Germany's Christian Fritsche from the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games and world record of 49.31 set in 1997. Suzuki Takayuki of Japan qualified first in 50.36. Right behind Suzuki comes Spain's Miguel Luque in 50.67.
In Men's 200m Individual Medley SM5, Daniel Dias of Brazil qualified first with the world record time of 2:54.90. Dias's biggest opponent is defending champion He Junquan of China, who comes second in 3:07.93. The Brazilian already claimed three gold medals and one silver so far, while He has one silver and one bronze.
In Men's 200m Individual Medley SM8, Wang Xiaofu of China is determined to show that he has what it takes to defend his Paralympic title in this event, coming first in qualification in 2:25.74. Australia's Peter Leek is the second best qualified in 2:26.62, but has the current world record of 2:25.51.
In Women's 200m Individual Medley SM8, Jessica Long of Team USA holds the world record of 2:43.60 in the event which she set in December 2006 and qualified first well ahead of the pack. Long's closest threat comes from Heather Frederiksen of Great Britain, second in qualification in 2:56.07. If Long has a good performance, she has a chance to add another medal to her collection of two golds, one silver and one bronze at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.
In Men's 200m Individual Medley SM9, defending champion Matthew Cowdrey of Australia has the world record of 2:16.32 in this event. Andriy Kalyna of Ukraine has the second fastest time at 2:19.27. The United States' Cody Bureau is third with the time of 2:22.83.
Sixteen swimmers will race for a place in the final of Women's 200m Individual Medley SM9. Natalie Du Toit of South Africa will try to defend her Paralympic title and qualified first with the world record time of 2:29.92. The second best qualification time comes from Louise Watkin of Great Britain, 2:41.10.
In Men's 200m Individual Medley SM10, defending champion Benoit Huot of Canada is also the world record holder, coming first in qualification in 2:14.57. Australia's Rick Pendleton has the second best time, 2:17.99. Andre Brasil of Brazil comes third in 2:18.17 but might be Huot's man to beat. Brasil already defeated the Canadian twice in the competition, to claim two golds in the Men's 100m Butterfly S10 and Men's 100m Freestyle S10.
Swimmers have tight qualification times in Women's 200m Individual Medley SM10, with Sophie Pascoe of New Zealand coming first in 2:39.69, Elodie Lorandi of France being second in 2:40.39 and Katarzyna Pawlik of Poland third, 2:41.41. The world and Paralympic record of 2:33.64 in this event had stood since the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and was set by Jessica Sloan of Canada.
In Men's 400m Freestyle S11, Enhamed Enhamed of Spain swam to the top place in qualification, 4:42.46. Defending champion Viktor Smyrnov of Ukraine comes second in 4:50.37. The world and Paralympic record of 4:20.83 set by Team USA's John Morgan has endured since the Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Games.
In Men's 400m Freestyle S12, Sergei Punko of Belarus will try to defend his Paralympic title in this event and qualified first in 4:14.73. Enrique Floriano of Spain has the second best time of 4:18.05. Ukraine's Sergii Klippert comes third in 4:23.94.
In Men's 4x50m Freestyle 20pts final, Spain, who has a strong team, qualified first in 2:20.58. Silver medalist at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, Brazil comes second in qualification with the time of 2:24.75. The Chinese team will need to up their game to defend their Paralympic title as they qualified third in 2:39.91.
(BOCOG September 11, 2008)